Healing the Pain
by ice-meets-fire
Summary: She had locked herself in her room. Away from the call of sympathetic friends. Away from her bastard of a boyfriend. Away from the pain. The hurt.


A/N: Just read it and tell me about it…I need to sleep now... mother's chasing me...

Under the shelter of Hogwarts, a girl was seated beside a fire place, legs curled to her chest and arms wrapped around them, head bent low and taking a closer look, her shoulders were quivering, wrecked with sobs. Tears flooded her face and her chestnut brown hair damp against her back.

She had locked herself in her room. Away from the call of sympathetic friends. Away from her bastard of a boyfriend. Away from the pain. The hurt.

How could he? He'd sworn he'd kicked the habit, damn him. So they had a fight, it sure as hell did not give him any bloody right to—

"Mione, open the door, its Harry and Ron. What's going on? Everybody refuses to tell us what happened." Harry's voice was laced with concern, Hermione let loose a bitter laugh.

Ron's tone was somewhat less surprising, what with his over-protectiveness, this was almost second nature to him.

"It was Malfoy wasn't it? What did he do? I swear if he laid a finger on you, I'll… I'll…"

Hermione had just gotten very fed up with her over-protective bodyguards and opened the door, a lecture about to spill from the tip of her tongue.

"You'll what? Ronald? Huh, go ahead tell me, I'll have you remember, Draco Malfoy has beaten you in everything there could possibly be competitive! Honestly you—"

Hermione cracked and broke down, tears adorned her face as her 'brothers' hugged her and comforted her.

"Shh… it'll be alright. You've been through worse haven't you?" Harry whispered.

"But… but… he—he … I—I , Harry this time I don't know if I can forgive him, you weren't there! You didn't hear how horrible he was!" Hermione managed to blubber out.

"Why don't you tell us what happened? Maybe we'll find a way out of this together." It was the best idea Ron ever had.

Hermione put a shaky smile on her face, thankful for her best friends. Then she began her story.

* * *

Earlier today, Draco and I were in Hogsmeade, at the Three Broomsticks, on a date. We were laughing and fooling around when Rita Skeeter came in. I had no idea what she was doing there but I bet it definitely had something to do with Draco.

It was like she knew he was there, the moment she walked in, she headed for our table, her quill was out and a piece of parchment was already at hand.

I thought she had learnt her lesson after… well you know. How wrong I was.

"So, the Dark Lord's dead and gone, father in Askaban awaiting the Dementor's Kiss, mother in St. Mungo's in the same ward as the Longbottoms, and yet the Malfoy heir is sitting in Hogsmeade, having a drink with his muggle-born girlfriend. My my my, how times have changed." Her sneer would do a Malfoy proud.

Draco went immediately to defensive mode.

"Who are you to judge? I see no problem with my current situation other than the fact that you are prying into my private life."

The Three Broomsticks was silent, even passer-bys had stopped to witness the showdown.

"Oh no? And I seem to recall that Death Eaters had killed all mudbloods they had ever met. Yet there's one sitting right next to you. My my my what happened Draco? Gone soft?"

Believe me if I hadn't grabbed his arm, he would have without a doubt punched her, woman or no.

Yes I was angry but, actually responding to her insults was just about the greatest story you could give her.

At this point and time, Madam Rosmerta ordered Rita to get out. She had left but the damage was done. Draco was furious and the tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Least to say he wanted to go back to the castle. We grabbed our coats and slowly made our way back to the castle, silent.

Finally I broke the silence, I wanted to thank him for standing up for me.

"Thanks for standing up for me, Draco." I smiled at him.

He was jolted out of his fury and managed to smile at me.

"Hey, it was wrong, I'm just standing up for what's right. Plus you're my girlfriend so I should have defended you, no?"

That was perfect the answer I ever heard. But he wasn't finished.

"And besides, she was insulting me and all a Malfoy stood for. Now you know, no one insults a Malfoy and gets away with it." He smirked at me.

He really should have stopped at standing up for what's right.

"You mean you were going to punch her because she bruised your ego?"

The smirk was wiped off his face the minute he realised his mistake.

"Doesn't the name mudblood mean anything to you? If I recall right, you've been calling me that for the past 5 years, don't I mean anything to you? Is your ego so inflated that you have no space to care for another person sincerely?"

Fury didn't cover what I felt at the time.

"Well I'm here aren't I? I am going out with you aren't I? Doesn't that tell you anything? And I haven't called you that name for over a year!"

"Yeah? Well that's only because you suddenly realised that I had a nice body!"

"Oh please, if all I wanted was a nice body, I would have dated some random girl, if you hadn't noticed I'm not exactly not wanted."

"Well maybe you should have gone out with some random girl, god knows that you'd only ever dated purebloods before me, so you'd never be harassed by nosy journalists calling your girlfriend a mudblood!"

"Really? Well maybe I should have! Then I probably would being having this ridiculous argument, mudblood!"

Ok the argument was getting heated but that… That was over the top.

I gasped, tears suddenly rolled down my face, my heart felt as if it had been torn. He'd sworn never…

Before I knew it, I fled, I ran and ran until I reached the tower. I ignored his cries and calls for me. People who were there tried to comfort me, but I pushed them away.

I didn't want their sympathy, just like I don't want this pain inside of me.

* * *

Harry and Ron were quiet up to this point.

"Mione, come on you know he didn't mean it. You were both angry and it just came out, slip of the tongue, that kind of thing." It was the most incredulous thing Hermione had ever heard, yet she knew he was right…

However that didn't mean she was going to admit it, hell no. She was still angry him, hell, she was angry enough to break it off with him.

And she decided that was what she was going to do, before she changed her mind, she ran out of the room and went looking for her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend.

* * *

Draco, at the point and time was wandering around the lake. Beating himself up over his harsh words.

"How stupid could you get? Call her a mudblood? Malfoy you idiot! You swore never to call her that anymore damn you. Now look what you've done, got her upset and crying, probably debating whether or not to break up with you." He chided himself.

He turned when he heard a small yelp not too far away. At the foot of the castle, he saw a girl fall straight into the arms of the boy at the foot of the steps. He smirked as a memory flooded his mind.

It was the first time that he had noticed her. Really noticed her.

She had been walking down the stairs with the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio, arms laboured with books when she tripped over her robe.

And right into his arms.

It was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.

It still brought a smile to his face when he recalled it.

He sat down on a rock and thought back over the past few months when they were dating. And the funny incidents which had accompanied it.

It was then that he had decided that he could not loose the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him, he got up and headed towards the castle, an apology being concocted in his mind.

* * *

Up in the castle, Hermione was rushing all over the place trying to find Draco. She was now at the Great Hall after trying the library and the Slytherin Common Rooms.

She suddenly heard a strangled cry and instinctively turned. A boy at the Hufflepuff table caught her attention, the girl beside him had pumpkin juice spilled all over her.

The boy was now apologizing profusely. His face was as red as Ron's hair.

Hermione couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

A personal memory seeping into her mind.

They had been going out on a date, and they were having a wonderful time, when a passing waitress accidentally toppled wine onto Draco.

Draco had wanted to tell the waitress off but the mirth apparent on Hermione's face stopped him.

He decided to let it go. And the both of them had laughed it off.

The memory had triggered a long succession of memories, bringing a small smile to Hermione's face.

She changed her mind. There was no way in hell she would let Draco Malfoy go.

"Hermione?"

Hermione turned at the familiar voice. His hair was a mess as if he had ran his hands through them many times and he was looking at her with puppy-dog eyes desperation shining in them.

"I'm so sorry. I should have never said that." Both their voices sounded as one as they both apologized.

They smiled and Hermione ran into his open arms. She never wanted to be anywhere else.

"I'm sorry that I called you that. I should have never. It was that damn Rita Skeeter's fault… I just got so angry that she had the decency to call you that, I reacted the way I was taught since young… I'm sorry I—"

Hermione had stopped his babbling with a finger to his lips. She looked into his eyes and nodded. She understood, it was okay, just don't do it again. Her eyes said it all and he read it loud and clear.

And they settled their agreement with a kiss.

Not too far away, Harry whispered to Ron, " I told you! I knew that they would get back together by the end of the day, you said tomorrow. You owe me 10 galleons."

Ron scowled at Harry.

A/N: oh shit I gotta go to sleep now… well how was it? Review please? any comments are welcome! I need to sleep now so I dont have time to double chekc it... any mistakes in spelling or grammer are to be excued... please? well REVEWS! i want reviews!...


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